Boston 2011 April 18th 10:00 a.m.
It's hard to put this race into perspective as it has been something I've wanted to do since I was15 years old. After having a number of knee issues through high school and college I gave up the sport and any dream of ever running a marathon- never mind Boston. Fast forward 25+years and I'm about to make that dream a reality.
To give the reader proper perspective, I feel it's important to set the background of my mind set and training leading in to this race. I'd qualified for Boston almost 18 months ago to the day of the race and had plans of running it the year before. My winter training had gone extremely well and I felt I was ready to run a great Boston. Sadly, about 2 months before the race I messed up my ankle on a short hard run and instead of taking a few days off, went out and tried to run the M.V. 20 miler 4 days later. Big mistake. Ended up missing 6 weeks of running and Boston was gone for the year. It kind of sent me into a mini motivational crisis. I managed to pull myself out of it by mid June and ran a very good Falmouth race in August..
Winter training wasn't the greatest as bad weather and a full time job made for tough scheduling. Trying to get on the treadmill was torture and night running with ice was down right dangerous. That left most of my running for the weekends and there is only so much you can do in 2 days. Getting out and racing in the Derry 16 and M.V. 20 miler gave me a boost of confidence that I could run a decent marathon. However; the knowledge that I wasn't in as good of shape as last year dampened my enthusiasm considerably.
Fast forward to race morning. Evelyn and I spent the night in Falmouth as I didn't want to worry about the boat in the morning or any chance of bad weather spoiling my arrival at the starting line. I awoke at 5 a.m. per usual, and went to the lobby to grab some coffee and took a quick shower. Feeling the pre-race nerves as always forced us out the door and down to the location of the bus. At this point I'm working hard to try and keep my nerves in check but am doing a real bad job of it. Upon arrival at the pick up spot there wasn't a soul in sight. My immediate reaction was; " Am I in the right spot?". We circled the parking lot and decided to go up the street to see if possibly we were at the wrong location. Just up the road was the local high school so we entered there and drove around looking. Still no luck. Back to the other location. By this point I am in total panic mode and thinking the worst. Poor Evelyn was trying her best to calm me down but it wasn't working. I decided to head out to the Rotary and see if I had possibly misunderstood the directions, when Evelyn spotted a car pulling into the lot behind us. I pulled the car around and followed them in.
Turned out we were in the right spot; just way too early. RELIEF!!!
The Vineyard crew showed up about 20 minutes later and the bus followed close behind. I said my good byes to Ev and jumped on board. I ended up sharing a row with Marylee near the back of the bus and she did her best to keep me calm. I think she got a few laughs seeing me try to keep my nerves in check. Sadly I might have started to freak her out a bit as I sat tearing my bagel into pieces and digging out the soft middle and rolling up the crusty outside. Just a little OCD to help me cope.
The ride up to Hopkinton went smoothly right up until we left the highway. It turned out the bus driver wasn't quite sure of how to get to the event and the idea of following the other buses on the road never occurred to him. He ended up turning the bus around 3 times before we finally found the starting area. Trust me; turning a charter bus around in Hopkinton during marathon morning is not an easy task.
By the time the bus arrived we were running late. All of us who were in the first wave jumped off the bus and started for the staging area. It was kind of funny how all the nervousness I had been feeling just sort of disappeared the moment I left the bus. I found myself a quiet spot to do my final preparation and proceeded to load up my gels and put on my racing flats. As I went through my bag I realized that I had left two of the four gels I had planned on using during the race in my other bag. Under normal circumstances I would have freaked out but the calm continued and my mind immediately made a plan to compensate. I would just have to drink more Gatorade than I had planned. I threw on my Capeabilities T-shirt that would be discarded once I was warmed up, and dropped my bag off at the baggage drop. Off to the race!
Because of the lateness of the bus I was unable to go into the Athlete's Village. It was the only part of the Boston experience I was upset to miss out on. Instead, I headed over to the starting line and managed to see the Women's race begin, which was great. It was quite surprising to see just how steep the initial drop is at the start of the race. I could see myself beating up my legs pretty badly before the race was even a mile old.
We're less than a half hour away from the gun now, so I move back and enter the staging area for my group. Being number 7432 put me in the next to last section of the pack. I stand there talking with a few other runners as we wait for the gun and start to feel the butterflies getting jumpy. The race can't start quickly enough now. The wheelchair racers head out and it's our turn next. The ropes separating the different groups comes down and Bang! We're off.
The pack starts out slowly as we walk uphill towards the starting line. By the time we get there, things are moving along nicely. I go through the first mile in a perfect 7:30 and have managed to control the initial downhill as the pack is too close together to get out of control. I jump to the side of the road and use a semi-secluded spot to empty my bladder and head back onto the course. As I pass mile 2 (7:03) I discard my long sleeve t-shirt and hope that I start to feel better soon. My legs really don't feel great and I haven't found that zone you hope to find during a marathon. I'm not too worried about it as I usually don't feel great during a long run until the 5th mile or so. Mile 3 and four flow by in 7:05 and 7:00 flat and I'm still feeling heavy legged. So far the entire race has been downhill so I'm hoping as we start to run some rolling hills the legs will respond. A 7:13 and 7:11 follow and every mile is a working proposition.
During the M.V. 20, 2 months ago, my first 10 miles went by almost effortlessly and I had hoped for the same thing today but it's obvious now, that is not going to happen. It's decision time. Not a lot of choices really. I can either back off and hope to finish with something left in the tank or take a chance and go for it. Having crashed and burned before, I know how painful that can be. However; I'm not much on holding back so I decided that I would go for it. After all, this may be my last marathon. I'd hate to go out without going for it.
So I have my answer. I'm going to try to run 7:15 pace until I can't do it any longer and than try to hold on. At this point I've come through the 10k mark in 45:00 exactly which is perfect pacing for 7:15 pace.
As the miles flow by, my effort stays very consistent and the times remain right in the ballpark for a 3:10 effort. The wheels are not falling off at all but I know that I'm putting more effort in than I would usually have to. The tailwind that we are experiencing is definitely helping me to maintain this speed. As the 20k mark comes by I'm at 1:30:24. I've fallen off Pace a little bit but nothing to worry about. I realize that the hills of Newton are coming up and I'm just hoping I have something left to get over and down them.
As we near mile 13 there is a building rumble off in the distance. I'm not sure what it is until I come up a rise and realize we are finally at Wellesley! Every one who has ever run Boston remembers Wellesley. It's the women's college and boy do they know how to make some noise! It is deafening and for the first time all day I am feeling great. I know it's a temporary high but at this point I'll take it. The air is just electric. A half mile after leaving the college you can still hear the din behind you, pushing you on your way.
After floating through mile 14 I am brought back to reality by a series of rolling hills followed by a steep hill entering Newton at mile 15. The thighs are definitely feeling this decline and they will hurt the rest of the way. All I'm trying to do here is stay on my feet and not beat myself up too badly.
Once you survive this killer downhill you are faced with the 3 hills that everyone talks about before heading into Boston proper. The first one is hardly a blip on the radar and you probably wouldn't have noticed it except for the killer downhill leading into it. The uphill actually starts out as a nice change up for your muscles. Upon reaching the top you face a small downhill followed by a larger hill which is quite a bit steeper than it's predecessor. I find myself passing a lot of runners here as many have gone to a crawl. I think it's because they know what's coming.
I push through the top and into the downhill that follows. Although it's not as steep as the last downhill the fact that it comes on top of two other downhills makes it exponentially worse. My thighs are now in constant pain and I know that once I reach the bottom I have to do it all over again. The thought of walking definitely entered my mind here. The fact that I am still passing people makes it easier to deal with; I never do stop and walk.
Upon reaching the bottom of this hill you are confronted with a couple of rolling hills which made me think that they were Heartbreak hill. Wrong! Heartbreak doesn't actually start until
just after mile 20 and lasts for about 3/4 of a mile. Once again, it's not the worst hill in the world but where it is in relation to the course that makes it so deadly. Being the 3rd hill in a series, at mile 20, just isn't fair. I manage to hold it together and run this mile in 7:48, which, surprise surprise, turns out to be my slowest mile to this point. So what next? Why that would be another downhill! This is the final hill of any consequence on the course but it's over 2 miles downhill with your thighs begging you for some relief. If you have anything left in the tank now's the time to use it. I feel myself working hard to turn my legs over but they just don't want to absorb any more pounding. It's all I can do to keep them underneath me and continue to move forward.
Once I reach the bottom of the hill, I know that there is only about 2 miles to go. My pace for the last 2 miles, all downhill, is around 7:30. I know that I am going to P.R. if the wheels don't come completely off. I also realize that I am not far away from that happening. The plan now is to pick out a shirt in front of me and try to run them down. The rest of the way to the finish that's what I did. The race became a series of short mental exercises. See a runner, catch a runner. As the Prudential Center grew bigger and bigger I became more aware of the crowds around me. Not for the first time, I marveled at the amazing support this race gets. There wasn't a spot on the entire 26.2 miles where you weren't surrounded by spectators on both sides of the road cheering you on. Here at the finish, they were 4 and 5 rows deep.
As I came down Hereford Street, I had nothing left in the tank. The final mile would be my slowest for the race and if it hadn't been for crowds, I'd probably still be out there. Taking that final turn onto Boylston Street, I remember Dave telling me it felt like the finish line never got any closer. I tried to keep that in mind and just soak in the final stage of the race. At this point other runners were going by me but I couldn't respond. All I wanted was to get to the finish and stop running.
As I crossed the finish line I gave a little fist pump and felt a wave of relief come over me. I was done. I had finally run the Boston Marathon. Although exhausted I managed to stay on my feet. Looking around; I could see that many could not. As the waves of exhaustion passed over me I continued my walk down the finish area. Boston did an awesome job with the finish. There was no need to think or worry as everything you needed was laid out in front of you. All you had to do was keep moving forward. First came the blankets, followed by the medals that we all use to remind ourselves that, "Yes indeed, we did run Boston.". Than the water and food which was more than my mind could comprehend. I just took everything that was handed towards me and continued forwards.
About 5 minutes after the race, I had my usual set of dry (thank god) heaves and then I felt human once again. After the circus of retrieving my bag I headed over to the family greet area where Evelyn was waiting. What a sight for sore eyes! It was nice to let someone else take care of me for a while. We found ourselves an open place where I could sit down for a couple minutes and change into some dry clothes and then headed out to find a cab and head for home.
The final breakdown by the numbers had me running a 3:13:42 for a pace of 7:23 per mile. The goal coming in was to get under 3:15 so mission accomplished. Of course I always have a secondary goal if all goes well and that was to break 3:10. Conditions couldn't have been better so no excuses there. Overall place was 3644 and age group was 356. Considering your seed is your number; 7432, I can't complain about that either.
The thing about Boston is that you can't break it all down by the numbers. At least not the first time you run it. For most runners, myself included, the idea of running Boston is more than running a race. For me it's that 15 year old boy finally fulfilling his dream. It's a race that people work to compete at and expectations are high. I'm happy to say that it didn't disappoint.
Of course, I'm already looking for a reason to do it again next year. 3:05?
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